The Lion king

Tottenham became a modern club with a regular presence in top 4 in the Premier League. And to be in top 4 when you have other teams like Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal is not a very easy task. In fact it is very very difficult. And when you add to that the campaigns in the Champions League and the other competitions one could easily say that Tottenham could have not actually done any better. They even built a new stadium which is a pearl compared to the stadiums of their rivals. I would say that all this in only five years is quite an achievement. But as we know football has become a big business where sentimentality is a word from the past. If you don't believe me please check when Claudio Ranieri was sacked as manager of Leicester. It happened only few months after they won the Premier League during the 2015-16 season. The biggest achievement this club will ever have.

I highly doubt if that's the case. To take Mourinho is like to replace your Blu-ray player with a VHS standard from the 90s. If we were to play chess Mourinho would be one of those figures on the board which only possible moves will be not to move forward but to go back. He has already given what he got and his career has been in decline for many years until he lost his job in Manchester United just few months ago. Maybe another team outside Premier League top 6, Portugal, France, Bundesliga with few exceptions etc would have been more suitable to hire him. But Tottenham? I would have never imagined. So in my opinion this decision is very wrong, it would bring no good to the club and it will be just a matter of time when Jose will lose his job ... again. Hopefully earlier that later.

On the other hand in my view the appointment of Solskjaer as a permanent manager of Manchester United was another huge mistake by the club management. He succeeded temporarily Mourinho at the end of the last season and actually achieved good results. The owners thought that maybe he is the right guy. But we see again how wrong this judgement was. I am sure they are already aware of the mistake in appointing him but it's still too soon to let him go. I expect this to happen at the end of the season if not as early as the beginning of the second half.

The match was actually very interesting. The tempo was very high and the opportunities created mainly by Manchester were much more dangerous and numerous. With only 6 minutes into the game The Reds were up 1:0. Rashford was the man who scored beautifully. Manchester continued to attack without break which brought memories of the best years on Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson. High speed runs and dangerous combinations and shots were thrown upon Tottenham defense which barely managed to survive. However in the 39 minute out of the blue in their first attempt towards De Gea Dele Alli managed to level the score. The break came at 1:1. But Manchester knew they should continue playing the second half the way they did in the first. The goal by Alli was just a misunderstanding. So they did and with 4 minutes into the second half Rashford again won a clear penalty which he himself materialized for 2:1. Marcus seems to have gained lots of experience and confidence in the last year and at the age of 22 has become the leader of his team. Nothing more interesting happened until the end of the game. The score remained unchanged and Manchester won a very well deserved three points which brought them up to the 6 position in the Premier League table.

There are only few matches in the Premier League which are worthy to be called chef d'oeuvres and the Manchester derby is one of them. No matter what the current form and position in the table each team is in, this game between one of the biggest rivals is always a magnet for special attention. In the best years of Manchester United during Sir Alex Ferguson era the team from Etihad stadium was always considered the underdog. Even so it was very often when City came out as winners in the clash.

They were doing that with such speed, accuracy, easiness and finesse that almost every counter-attack was as clinical and threatening. City felt very vulnerable but continued playing the same way executing possession on the ball hoping that they will be the first ones to score. But this wasn't meant to be. In the 21 minute Rashford was brought down in the City penalty area and the referee gave penalty for United. City players and their manager were disputing the referee's decision but the VAR only confirmed his judgement. So Rashford opened the score and United took the lead.

The break came and with that the opportunity for Guardiola to find the right medicine to cure City's inability to score. But things didn't really change much in the second half. Mahrez and Otamendi came on the pitch replacing Silva and Stones but Pep's team still struggled to create real chances. The time was passing quickly for them as they were becoming more and more nervous making more and more mistakes. Finally in the 85 minute Otamendi returned one goal transfusing fresh blood into his teammates muscles and giving them hopes for turning the score in their favor in the closing minutes of the game. United were under siege from all sides and Solskjaer wisely used this opportunity to make some substitutions as to break the game and rhythm of play of their opponents. Anthony Taylor gave 5 minutes extra time which was quite enough for City to level the score. But it was not their day. The Reds stole three deserved points on Etihad and climbed on the fifth place in the Premier League table. This was a second in a row win in only 3 days against two of the strongest teams in the League. This for sure will boost United confidence and give their manager more room to breath.

This will most likely be my shortest article so far. I really thought that this game will provide us with big entertainment and interesting and suspense performance all throughout. But nothing like that happened. The match actually ended in the 15 minute when Raheem Sterling doubled the score for City after Kevin De Bruyne had given them the lead in the 2 minute.

They were losing almost every tackle, they were denied close access to the penalty area in every attempt they made while at the same time every City attack was just another threat for Arsenal to concede even more goals. In the 40 minute the score became 3:0 for Manchester and that was when for sure all was lost for the London team. Not because of the result but because of the way they played. In any case the break came and with that the hopes that something might magically change during the second half. And with no surprise nothing did. The only change was that City became more merciful and didn't increase even further their advantage. Not that Arsenal didn't have any opportunities to score but with their confidence shattered to pieces, their spirit lost and the lack of any real believe that they can actually do more than just lose, it was impossible for them to trigger any spark that can lead to a real fire.

City boosted greatly their confidence after last week's loss on Etihad against United and have provided a deja vu to their best performances from the last season and the one before when they were going through their opponents like a bulldozer. I think this will serve them as evidence that they can really aim for the Champions League title in this campaign. The competition there is killing but they possess all the qualities to achieve this goal. And the first one to find out whether this claim bears any truth will be Real Madrid in the 1/8 finals. So for Arsenal what was left were the lessons learned from this loss. I think they should really focus on finding this time the right manager for the next season and maybe try shell out a bit more money for some higher quality players who can make the difference in their pursuit for better results.